Indian-descent Americans are taking over US, jokes Joe Biden

WASHINGTON: In remarks that were described as "head-turning" and "tone-deaf effort at levity," US President Joe Biden on Thursday said Indian-Americans are "taking over" the United States.
Biden's off-the-cuff comment came during a call to NASA while speaking to Swati Mohan, NASA’s guidance and controls operations head for the Mars Perseverance rover landing, and was ostensibly made in the contest of the Indian-American contribution in the science and technology areas.
“It’s amazing. Indian-descent Americans are taking over the country — you, my vice president (Kamala Harris), my speechwriter (Vinay Reddy),” Biden told Mohan, whose lead role in guiding the Perservance rover landing last month attracted wide praise.
"One of the reasons why we’re such an incredible country is we’re such a diverse country. We bring the best out of every single solitary culture in the world, here in the United States of America, and we give people an opportunity to let their dreams run forward," Biden added, clearly emphasizing their US nationality by referring to them as "Indian-descent Americans."
Biden had a well-chronicled history of making awkward gaffes, so his over-the-top remarks were taken in stride even in the right-wing press already in the throes of xenophobia. The New York Post referred to the comments as "tone-deaf effort at levity" and Breitbart News, home to nativist commentaries, said Biden "has a history of awkward statements on the growing population of Indian-Americans."
But the comments were also implicit acknowledgement of the growing profile in areas ranging from politics and public service to science and business, of an ethnic group that is considered a "model minority" and which has the best education metrics of any community in the United States.
According to a Pew research study, more than 70 per cent of people of Indian origin aged 25 and older have college degrees, with 40 per cent obtaining a postgraduate degree, nearly 2.5 times the rate among the overall US. population. Indian-Americans also have the highest household median income in the US -- $132,000 compared to $64,000 and $66,000 for all immigrant and US.-born households.
Their success is reflected in the Biden administration's appointment of a large number of them in the government - more than 55 at last count.
Although one of the most prominent Biden appointees, Neera Tanden, has had her nomination rejected by Conservative lawmakers for political reasons, she is still expected to serve in the administration in a job that does not require Senate confirmation. Other prominent appointees include Dr Vivek Murthy as US Surgeon General, Vanita Gupta, as Associate Attorney General (both positions require Senate confirmation), Uzra Zeya, Under Secretary of State for Human Rights and Democracy, Mala Adiga as Policy Director to First Lady Jill Biden, and Bharat Ramamurti, Deputy Director of the National Economic Council.
Indian-Americans are also present in numbers disproportionate to their demographic strength as CXOs in corporate America, in academia, and in small businesses, something Biden recognized as far back as 2006 when he spoke of their rise in his home state of Delaware.
"In Delaware, the largest growth in population is Indian-Americans moving from India. You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I’m not joking," he said with infelicity that is now recognized as typical of him.